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Rare charge of bigamy leaves woman devastated

"My knight in shining armor" is how she described 39-year-old David Sinclair Rains, who she married on June 10 but who now sits in the Clarke County Jail on a felony bigamy charge.

Kennedy said her life became "a living hell" once she found out that she's not legally married, and that her grief only got compounded when her younger sister died.

"It's all confusing to me," she said.

Rains, who was homeless at the time, duped the 47-year-old disabled woman into marrying him, saying one wife had died and another marriage had been annulled, Athens-Clarke police said.

Police couldn't find evidence that Rains ever was widowed, but did find that Rains' other wife is alive and well in the Athens area, and that their March 9 marriage still is valid.

Rains also told Kennedy that he had children, but said that they'd also died, police said.

The first wife, who also is homeless, told investigators she separated from Rains soon after they were hitched, and that she last saw him at a local soup kitchen about four months ago, according to police. The first wife said neither she nor Rains filed for divorce or an annulment.

Kennedy knew that Rains once was married, but after he left his wife, she allowed him to move into the Baxter Drive apartment that she shared with her sister. Her sister had known Rains for several years, but Kennedy said she didn't know him well before March.

After moving in, Rains seemed to be helpful and reliable, said Kennedy, whose diabetes cost her the use of her legs.

"He seemed real decent, helping around the house and doing the things that I couldn't do, like take out the trash, but he just weaved me into his web of lies," Kennedy said.

When Kennedy's mother had back surgery, Rains did whatever he could to help her out as well.

Before Rains moved in with her, Kennedy said, Rains lived at area homeless shelters and spent time with another woman at her apartment in northern Clarke County.

Kennedy said that a pastor friend of hers performed the marriage at a local hotel.

She had no reason to suspect her new husband was conning her until he was arrested on a bad checks charge two months ago in Oconee County, Kennedy said.

According to Kennedy, Rains had known since 2005 he was wanted on warrants, but that "I didn't know about it until he was arrested in September.

"That's when I started checking on him to find out what other lies he told me," she said.

Athens-Clarke police began an investigation Oct. 5, after Kennedy came to them with her bigamy complaint.

Bigamy is a felony punishable by a minimum prison sentence of one year, but someone convicted of the crime can serve up to 10 years behind bars.

Athens-Clarke police Capt. Clarence Holeman of the Criminal Investigations Division said he couldn't recall anyone other than Rains being charged with bigamy during his 26 years on the police force.

Rains was booked into the Clarke County Jail on the bigamy charge last Friday, after he was released from the Oconee jail, police said.

Rains, unable to raise $1,000 bond, often calls her from jail, Kennedy said.

"I have told him we're not legally married and I don't want anything to do with him," she said. "He keeps telling me that he loves me and wants to work things out, but I just wish he would quit calling and leave me alone."

Already traumatized by learning about her invalid marriage, Kennedy said her younger sister died from a medical condition Sunday.

"I'm in a living hell right now," Kennedy said. "What he did to me has turned me cold. I've always been a very warm-hearted person, but now I'm cold. I despise him."